12 Loco Things Dutchies Do Part 1

Posted on by alissonsimmonds

This month I celebrate that I’ve been living in The Netherlands for two years. It’s the third country I have lived in and the third one I call home. Before NL I lived in Germany, so I thought I didn’t need to integrate or learn about the culture anymore. I genuinely thought that Dutchies are similar to my last homies, the Germans. These two years have totally shown me the opposite. With you, today, I want to share the things Dutch people do that I haven’t seen people doing in any other place I’ve lived before. Get ready!

1. Three kisses
Dutch people greet with three kisses. I had to get used to that. But it get’s even more confusing when after you gain some trust with the person you greet, three kisses will eventually turn into one. This makes you feel totally weird because you finally got used to the three kisses. I know my in-laws for seven years now, and it still doesn’t get less awkward.

2. Congratulations to everyone! 
When someone of your family or friends celebrates his birthday, not only the birthday person gets congratulated, all the family members as well! Please note that only the birthday person will get a present and not you.. 🙂

3. Boterham
Instead of just calling it a sandwich, in NL there is one right word to name the piece of bread you eat during breakfast or lunch.. ‘Boterham’! The Dutchies take the word very serious because they spread butter on the boterham before any other spread comes over it. So here is how it goes: Bread + butter + Nutella. Or, bread + butter + jam. Or, bread + butter + peanut butter, bread + butter + hagelslag… You get the point?

Boterham

4. Werkse, sterkte, sportse!
Dutch people are very kind. So kind that they have a word to wish you a good day at work: werkse! A good day at the gym: sportse! A good day when you are feeling sad or sick: sterkte.

5. The cheaper, the better
If you ever give a nice compliment about a piece of clothing or accessory to a Dutch person, they don´t only thank you for that. As well they will answer you with pride that they bought it on sale for 70% less of the price. Oh! how they love to show you they made a cheap deal..!

6. Names
Gijs, Thijs, Tijn, Matthijs, Stijn, Marijn, Merijn, Martijn, Tijmen, Jasmijn, Gert, Meike, Verlee, Kaj, Joost, Koen… Odds are that if you don´t speak Dutch, you are pronouncing them all wrong! Dutch parents like to give their kid names that are very hard to pronounce for non-Dutch speakers. On top of that, some kids have two names. A real name and a ‘roep’name”. Example: His real name is Gerrit but the name of how to call him is Gert… Say Whut!?

7. The weather
It is very common to see these highlights in the news: ‘today is the coldest/warmest day ever since… last month?’, “Today a heavy storm is coming to the coast, code red everyone! The storm will last two minutes. Better be safe!” Everyone in The Netherlands loves the news about the weather. Better yet, they all know everything about it, thanks to the app: Buienradar. On this app, they can see the exact time it will rain and for how long.  Can you imagine how I feel, when at 11 am the sun is shining, and then I hear my Dutch colleagues telling me “Oh but today there’s going to be a storm around 8 pm”. I think Dutch people secretly love the rain.

8. Biking to anywhere. Regardless the weather.
There is nothing that can stop Dutchies biking to work or school. Rain, snow, ice… Dutchies are unstoppable. My first surprise ever was back in 2013 when I did an internship in a design office in Amsterdam. It was the first rainy day since I started and while I was looking through the window, wondering if I should wait until the rain stops or go walking to work with an umbrella, the outside life looked as normal as ever. People wear their Hema rain suits, hop on the bike and off they go. Some even biked with an umbrella! I did go walking to work that day and when I arrived all my colleagues were soaking wet, hair all messy, jeans wet. But that´s not a reason to stop working. Just hang your wet jacket, shake your hair and the day can begin.
Oh, and the Dutchies are so handy with their bikes. Don´t be shocked to see how they bring their three kids to school on a bike, with the dog on the leash and while biking they are putting on their jackets! In the mean time, it still takes me five minutes to lock and unlock my bike.

Dutch weather
Ph: © 2011 – Bas de Meijer

9. Lekker
The favorite word of the Dutchies: ‘Lekker’. It means tasty, and mostly it refers to food, but Dutchies find some other things tasty as well. It´s common to hear:

– lekkere broodjes of soep (tasty sandwiches, soup – food related)
– lekker rustig (when it’s nice and quiet)
– lekker weer (when the weather is good, finally)
– niet lekker (when something is not tasty)
– slaap lekker (sweet dreams)
-lekker gezond (when something is healthy)
– lekker ruim (when a place is spacious)
– lekker biertje (when they drink the first beer of the weekend)
– lekker! (the answer when someone asks if you want coffee. Please note: You never answer yes or no, you answer with lekker and always accept the coffee)

10. Coffee O´ Clock
Dutch people drink coffee ANYTIME, the WHOLE DAY and I am not exaggerating. The first coffee is in the morning, then in the middle of the morning, then after lunch, then 4ish, the last one is after dinner around 7pm or 8pm. To stimulate the amount of coffee they drink, the supermarkets dedicate one whole isle to cookies and taartjes! Most of these cookies are with butter and a looots of sugars, so I don´t eat them anymore, but before my vegan time my all-time favorite where the bokkenpootjes and gevulde koek. Oh and the stroopwafels and stroop cookies.

 

Stroopwafels
Bokkenpotjes
Gevulde koek

11. Fries are a Dutch´s best friend
The Netherlands biggest delicatessen is fries. You can eat them on the street, in fancy restaurants, at the beach and even during weddings. They sell fries at every train station, and on every ten meters of a city center in places called “Snack Bar”. What makes the patat so special is the way you can eat them. In a puntzak and with A LOT of sauce. And by sauce I mean mayonnaise. I never understood Pulp`s Fiction scene about The Netherlands until now. For your education: these are some toppings with the official names they use:

-Patat speciaal: Fries with mayo, ketchup, and onions
-Patat oorlog: Fries with peanut sauce, mayo, and onions (oorlog means war, I leave it to your imagination why they call it like this)
-Patat joppie: Fries with a secret sauce called: Joppie
-Patat met: Fries with mayonnaise unless you ask for another sauce like ketchup, curry, peanut sauce.
-Patat zonder: The least chosen one. These are fries without any sauce.

I have to admit, I used to find it too loco to eat fries with onions. The smell is truly awful, but after two years I have blended very well with the locals. Now I can enjoy a good puntzak of patat speciaal.

Patat speciaal

12. Wedding celebration of 12,5 years
Dutch people celebrate 12,5 years of marriage. Why? I don´t really understand. Where I am from, we celebrate complete years. 1, 5, 10 etc The first time I was invited to 12,5 years of marriage I thought it was a joke, but no, it´s a real thing to celebrate, and it´s actually a nice reason to get together (maybe that´s the reason?).

One more extra…
13. When a baby is born…
Not only your family gets the memo, but the whole street has to know that there is a new baby in the world. Parents go loco and decorate their house with blue or pink (depending on the sex of the baby) banners, balloons, an inflated stork and anything they can possibly find baby related. While in Colombia, when a baby is born, you call the parents, the grandparents and eventually go and visit the baby. In the Netherlands, the parents send birth cards to the whole family and friends. Normally the card shows the time and date of birth, the weight, the length (very important) and a picture of the baby. I can´t help but wonder when on earth do the parents have the time to do all this, while there is a newborn in the house?
If you got the birth card, that means you have to make space in your agenda to go visit the newborn (kraambezoek). During the kraambezoek you will get a treat from the parents: A biscuit with (of course) butter and little aniseed balls colored pink for a girl and blue for a boy. “Beschuit met muisjes” Oh! it makes the visit more gezellig and totally stress-free.

Hoera!

 

I´m going to leave the house birth, the haring, the real life doll when someone turns 50 and some more loco things for another post. For now, I can only say that even though the Dutch culture is different than mine, I have learned to like it and embrace it. Some things I find funny, other I really like and I´m learning from them.
Thanks to all the Dutchies that have embraced me and made me feel welcome in The Netherlands the past two years.

With love,

Alisson

Read 12 loco things Dutchies do part 2

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129 thoughts on “12 Loco Things Dutchies Do Part 1”

  2. 😂😂😂😂😂I am a Dutchie and really had to laugh about this. Because it is so true! You also have to talk about gezellig in a next post because that is like lekker a word that we use a lot. And it is a tippical Dutch word.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Dear Alisson,
    I really enjoyed reading your post. I am dutch, but live in Germany for 20 years now. In the meantime I also think it is strange to gratulate (feliciteren) every person in the room, not only family.
    I don’t drink coffee, my mom told me that I will learn to drink coffee as soon as I start working, but I didn’t. And I dislike onions, specially on fries….
    Wedding celebration of 12,5 years: It is halfway to 25… We used to have coins (money) of 2,5 gulden (before we had Euro).
    And the birth cards: before the child is born everything is already organized / ordered. So you only have to fill in the “blanks” like Name, date and time of birth, weight and length ;).
    Our first child is born in the Netherlands and the second child in Germany. The lady was very shocked as we ordered 50 birth cards in Germany, hahahaha 😀 😀 😉

    Thanks for your blog and veel plezier in the Netherlands

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Alisson, As an American living in California with my Dutch bride for 44 years now, I particularly enjoyed your observations about “Dutchees”. We have visited my wife’s family several times over the course of our marriage and I find that I communicate with them just fine. This is not merely because the Dutch are so well versed in English, but because if I animatedly blurt out “Lekker!” at roughly 30 min intervals (which by the way puts be in sync with their endless coffee breaks) I am viewed as being keenly tuned with my surroundings. Gezellig takes more practice, as it seems to be a zen-like art form and is well served by abundant amounts of rain, hot liquids, sweets, sitting in one place until you grow roots and repeatedly praising how gezellig the experience of being gezellig really is. Loved your piece, but seems to me that “saute herring” deserved at least an honorable mention. It rivals NYC’s dirty water street frankfurters.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Hi Mark, I had to laugh at your comment ““Lekker!” at roughly 30 min intervals…” hahaha, You got this right! I started collecting new data for a new blog post for even more crazy things Dutchies do and haring will have a special place.
      Thanks for passing by, I´m glad you enjoy my post.

      Like

  5. I recognize everything 😂 Also above the river we say patat but under the river we say friet. Vegan frietje speciaal is the best though! 😉 Or how about a vegan bamischijf with mosterd. You have to try that combo.

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    1. Hi! Vegan papat speziaal is indeed the best! There is a snackbar in Utrecht that sells vegan mayo. But vegan bamischijf I haven´t found yet! In my fav snackbar here in Amersfoort, they use egg in the coating. Where can I find it vegan?

      Like

  7. With respect number 4. It is actually “werk ze” and “sport ze”. English has something similar, but in English you do not use it as often and it is not commonly used. It would be like “Shoot’em” which is short for “Shoot them”. In an analogous way, one could say “work’em” or even “sport’em”, even when you do not refer to real “them”.

    Like

  8. Haha I really had a laugh while reading this.
    I’m a Dutchie and all the things you wrote above are just really normal to me. Very funny it is strange to people from other countries / cultures.
    Looking forward for your next post about Dutchies. Gezellig to read.

    Like

  9. Hi Allison,
    I think the reason we Dutchies celebrate a 12,5 years of marriage is because it’s 25 divided by two.
    Normally we celebrate 12,5 years of marriage ( your copper wedding anniversary) 25 years of marriage (your silver wedding anniversary) and 50 years of marriage (your golden wedding anniversary).
    Really enjoyed reading your post!

    Like

  10. Why does almost every “vegan” has the need to make sure that everybody needs to know you are a vegan? Even in this article.”Before my vegan time..” Why? So irrelevant.

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  11. Hi Allison!

    If you liked the stroopwafels so much, you should definitely try Punselies. These are vegan stroopkoekjes you can buy at the supernarket! Oh and for the Bamischijf? Go to Albert Heijn and check their freezer. You’ll find stuff from De Vegetarische Slager and some of that stuff is vegan, like the bamischijven, but also (!) the kroketten and bitterballen!
    Enjoy!!

    Like

    2. Punselies are soooo good! We got to know about them because KLM has them on their flights. Not sure if it’s all flights but do look for them, they are indeed really good. (And that’s coming from someone who hardly ever buys store bought cookies!) you can get them in the supermarket, orange box. They are from the Gouda based “Punselie” family’s factory. When we got married in Gouda, our photographer, who is from that family, gave us a large cardboard replica of the historical Gouda city hall full of punselie cookies! The name invokes happy memories of our wedding and my family’s beautiful historical home town Gouda. If you haven’t visited the “stadhuis” yet, it’s highly recommended. Gouda is a lovely place to spend the day. Thanks for the fun post. Interesting to read!

      Like

  12. Okay, there is just one thing I want to correct. A Patatje Speciaal is with Curry (ketchup with spices) and not with regular ketchup.

    And I have to admit, me as a Dutchie didn’t know that some things are considered weird, like the kisses and the coffee with a cookie.

    Like

  13. Hi, I live in South Africa but had a Dutch grandmother who always gave me white bread with chocolate vermicili
    on and I always wondered about that doing but now I understand !! O ,
    how I love Dutch people !!

    Like

  16. I love this article! I’m a Dutchie, moved to the US in 1987. Everything made me chuckle!! Kneuterig also means narrow minded, that’s what I think of when I hear that word. Also, my name is Maria (after my Mom and Grandma) but my roepnaam is Marina! Really enjoyed this! Thanks!

    Like

  17. As a Dutchie I recognise ALMOST everything. I hate butter on my boterham (except with hagelslag, because it would fall of without). And I don’t like coffee, so for me they are tea breaks xD

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  18. You’re absolutely right about us Dutchies 🙂 Me personally, I don’t like the ‘Congratulations to everyone’, why do we all do this, haha! And three kisses turn into one? Never noticed, here it’s always 3 (in the South, maybe that’s the difference?) Oh and a ‘friet speciaal’ isn’t served with ketchup, it’s served with curry 🙂 Greetings!

    Like

  19. Hey Allison, as a Dutchie I recognize all of the above 🙂 I’d like to add another use of the word ‘lekker’: ‘Ik voel me niet lekker’ = ‘I’m feeling sick’.

    Keep up the good work!

    Like

  20. Hi Allison,

    I’m a Dutchie and while living in London a prepared my lunch in the hostel I lived in. I can still see the faces of my room mates while I was enjoying mijn boterham met plakjes aardbeien. Í laughed reading your article, all too familiar 😀

    Like

  21. The title says 12 loco things but you described 13. Oh and patat speciaal is with curry and not ketchup!

    But loved the article!

    Xx from a Dutchie

    Like

  22. Hi Allison, loved reading all of this ! By the way : At no.13 often one is also is asked to make an “appointment” to visit and see the baby.. Regards

    Like

  23. ha, you missed the point about the “i bought it with discount” it is because in this calvanistic country people dont want to be seen as having spend a lot of money on “luxery”, it would be shamefull.

    Liked by 1 person

  25. “Sint Nicolaas” (in American English: Santaclaus) is origanal a Dutch kids party, during immigration time brought to New Amsterdam (later New York). The Americans transformed “our” Santaclaus into “the Christmasman” , something unbelievable !

    Yankee was original “Jan Cees” a common Dutch boys name in the Netherlands and brought to the USA by Dutch immigrants. Later it became a sobriquet for North Americans

    Brooklyn orignaly was “Breukelen” (Dutch village near Utrecht) but became Brooklyn by English pronunciation.

    Wallstreet (New York) is from the Dutch river “de Waal”

    Harlem (New York) is from Haarlem city, province capital Noord Holland

    Henry Hudson (Hudson river, New York) was employed by the VOC (Dutch Multi National around 1570)

    Liked by 1 person

  26. Hi Alisson,
    I’m a Dutchie living in the States now and believe that we are masters at making our houses gezellig. Have you noticed Dutchies like to leave the curtains open at night so everyone can look in. After dinner you stroll through the city or village looking into people’s living rooms enjoying the gezelligheid they have created ! Miss that a lot !

    Liked by 1 person

  28. 😂very well noticed but especially very well explained👍🏻 I guess we are a very loving, funny loco bunch. Never a dull moment and enjoy life👍🏻 Can’t wait for your next blog….. haring, borreltijd etc

    Like

    2. what is weird about it is, that your official name can be Theodorus Josephus and your ‘roepnaam’ is Kees. the american way is more a nickname instead of a proper name.
      I have had various occasions with problems abroad, because my ‘daily name’ (roepnaam) is different from my passport name. so when I have children I’ll pay attention to it in their names. 😉

      Like

  31. Haha you made me laugh 🙂 and you are a very keen observer!
    In the Netherlands rain isn’t the opposite of nice weather. It’s just there and if you’re smart you’ll adjust your clothes to it (yay Hema).

    Like

  32. Hi Allison,
    Great post which I enjoyed during my ‘lekkere’ morning coffee. Indeed first of many today. One addition, the parents don’t decorate the houses after a child is born. This responsibility is for the Neighbours(hood). As soon as they hear the child is born they show up at the house and decorate the whole place. This way they welcome the new born into the neighbourhood. There will always be a stork and of course a lot of beers. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to part 2:)

    Like

  33. Hi Allison. You describe the Dutch people well. Do you know why they give beschuit met muisjes when a child is born? It is because of the fact that anijs is very good for the mothers when they are breast feeding 😀

    Like

  34. Goede post Alisson. Welkom!
    If you run into an older book about the same issue, buy it! It is called, ‘The Undutchables’. You’ll find it very entertaining.

    Then again, USA and UK have their particulars as well… (been there, done that, enjoyed it).

    Like

  35. Lovely written piece Alisson. Really nice throw-back to my years in the Netherlands. I found it extremely strange, that the Grandparents of a newborn do the same kind of celebration with their colleagues. With Beschuit met Muisjes and everything. Never knew what to make of it.
    I really miss the coffee-breaks though. Looking forward to the second part.

    Like

  36. Thank you Alisson for describing my country and the people so spot-on! Often when you see an article called “12 things Dutch people do” or anything like that it describes nothing new, only the obvious bikes and rain. You pointed out some true and sometimes actually weird phenomenons we’ve been doing for ages I don’t even notice them anymore. I had a good time reading this. I laughed so hard at #7. So many weather types for such a small country can you believe it?! XD

    Enjoy your further stay here in The Netherlands!

    Like

  39. This is a great article, as a Dutchie I recognise a lot. I didn’t know that inviting all your friends on kraambezoek is typical Dutch. I am also unaware of the ” the cheaper the better” remarks, but maybe I’m just used to it.

    Like

  40. This is a great article, as a Dutchie I recognise a lot. I didn’t know that inviting all your friends on kraambezoek is typical Dutch. I am also unaware of the ” the cheaper the better” remarks, but maybe I’m just used to it.

    Like

  41. About the boterham: of course you can only have one with Nutella or hagelslag after you’ve eaten one or two with cheese (obligatory) or ham! And where outside of the Netherlands could you find bread that bad the proper rectangular shape so nicely fitting the broodtrommel (lunchbox) 😉
    Groetjes from Zwitserland !

    Like

  43. Dear Alisson,

    Misunderstanding of the word “Dutch” (Original “Duutsch, in German language Deursch) which refered to the “Nether Germans” people from the lower parts (the Netherlands) of Western Europe. This is how they were called 2 centuries ago. Original it means “the people” . Most Americans don’t understand all the differences. Also many Americans are quite confused about all the different countries in Europe.

    Dutch should actualy be “Netherlantic” to avoid confusion

    One other “change” of name because of prunouncation

    Flushing meadows (New York) used to be “Vlissingen” meadows. Vlissingen is a city in the provence Zeeland close to Belgium. Through Anglicisation it became “Flushing”

    Like

  46. Haha you made my day Alisson! I even cried!!! I’m dutch and moved abroad 2 years ago, so the opposite. I miss these silly funny little things about our culture! Thank you for this this! ☺️🚲🍟🇳🇱

    Like

  48. So funny, thanks for that. A Colombian friend of mine visited Holland and was very worried after eating a “frikandel speciaal”😉 and was stunned by the amount of cheese Dutch people seemed to eat.
    He loved eating kroketjes, bamiballen and gehaktballen which he would get from the wall cafeteria !!

    Like

  49. To make things just a bit more confusing, a ‘patatje speciaal’ is not the same in every city. Neither is a ‘patatje oorlog’.

    In some cities when you order a patatje speciaal, you’ll get fries with mayo, ketchup and onions, where in other cities or area’s you’ll get fries with mayo, onions and curry.

    The same thing with a ‘patatje oorlog’. The way I prefer it, the fries are served with mayo, satèh (peanut butter) sauce and (fried) onions. However, in other area’s you will get fries with mayo, ketchup, peanut butter sauce and (either raw or fried) onions.

    So when I order my patatje oorlog, I prefer to specify how I want it. 😉

    Like

  50. This had me laughing out loud! Didnt know we are that crazy. One tip:
    It’s called: ‘Friet’ not ‘Patat’ ( it’s an ongoing “war” between people that call it Patat but you should use ‘Friet’ thats the way to call it! #teamfriet

    Like

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